Tamil Nadu triumphs

29 March, 2003 00:00 IST

29 March, 2003 00:00 IST

NOTWITHSTANDING the absence of pace spearhead L. Balaji and left-hander Hemang Badani, both away with the India-A side in the Caribbean, Tamil Nadu won the BCCI's limited-overs tournament for zonal winners (five-team, all-play-all league) held in Chennai in the first week of March.

SANJAY RAJAN

The triumphant Tamil Nadu team. — Pic. N. BALAJI-

NOTWITHSTANDING the absence of pace spearhead L. Balaji and left-hander Hemang Badani, both away with the India-A side in the Caribbean, Tamil Nadu won the BCCI's limited-overs tournament for zonal winners (five-team, all-play-all league) held in Chennai in the first week of March.

While the event withered in the glare of the cricket World Cup, the contests were keen, and the host, despite losing the opening match to Maharashtra, went on to top the table. Punjab and Tamil Nadu finished with 13 points each and the latter was adjudged champion on account of having beaten the former in the league phase.

It was bad management of overs on the part of the Tamil Nadu captain S. Suresh and patchy fielding and catching by the side that resulted in the team losing to Maharashtra. But the team's demolition of Punjab, the sole leader till then, was clinical and the bonus point (for achieving victory with a run-rate 1.25 times that of the opposition) garnered saw it emerge joint-leader before the final round. Punjab had picked up a bonus point against Bengal.

New-ball bowlers D. J. Gokulakrishnan and S. Mahesh sent back the top four batsmen by the 11th over after Punjab opted to bat; the dismissals looking soft owing to the effortless manner in which the catches were held. Thereafter, off-spinner D. Dhandapani spun a web around the opposition while he finished with a five-wicket haul. The host reached the target of 170 without much ado thanks to the 102-run opening wicket stand between Suresh and left-hander S. Ramesh, who displayed a measure of consistency.

The only other five-wicket haul in the tournament was by Iqbal Siddiqui for Maharashtra (which was without Abhijit Kale, away with India-A) against Bengal. Maharashtra, which finished with 12 points, began the tournament clinching cliffhangers against Railways and Tamil Nadu. Siddiqui did the star-turn against Railways, dismissing the dangerous Jacob Martin and the well-set Yere Goud. Railways (without Murali Kartik and J.P. Yadav, away with India-A) was penalised two overs for slow over-rate in the match reduced to 45 overs a side due to the delayed start owing to a damp spot in the pitch. That made the difference in the end.

Maharashtra's No. 10 batsman, left-hander Mandar Dalvi, scored a six off mediumpacer Suresh with the side needing eight for victory from five deliveries that saw the team pull off a two-wicket win. It might have made sense had M.R. Shrinivas, the Tamil Nadu spearhead, bowled the final over, considering that containment was out of the question and the only chance was to blow the tail away. Moreover, Suresh was coming on after a 33-over lay-off.

The other new ball bowler S. Mahesh, who finished with an impressive analysis of 8-1-28-0, surprisingly did not get to complete his quota of 10 overs. He bowled the 49th and off his last delivery grassed a caught and bowled chance from Mandar, who ran a cheeky single to keep strike.

Maharashtra lost a thriller — its only defeat — to Punjab when, with three runs required off the last delivery, Amit Uniyal snicked Siddiqui, who surprisingly provided width, to the third-man fence.

The two century-makers were southpaws Tejinder Pal Singh and Amit Pagnis who fashioned Railways' 10-wicket win over Bengal with a bonus point — the Central Zone team's only success.

S. Mahesh, who picked up four wickets for Tamil Nadu against Railways, induces Tejinder Pal Singh to snick a delivery into the slips. S. Ramesh took the catch. — Pic. V. GANESAN-

Tamil Nadu met Bengal, which lost all its matches, and Punjab locked horns with Railways in the final round. Led by Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Punjab's chances of clinching the crown hinged on the outcome of Tamil Nadu's encounter; the Punjab side had to win with the bonus point while the southern powerhouse had to fail on that count. But both sides posted straight victories.